WORDS (Far East) / DO YOU READ ME?

„Words, words, words!“ just in a different context …
The exact dimensions of the series varies according to space. The presentation follows the idea of an associative word map (mental map) or that of a proto-narration. It involves literally „reading“ an image.

Japan can be seen as a written country. A country of representation. In recent years the presence of foreign language words – English, French, German, Italian – has increased. For most Japanese these words are perceived more as a shape and their meaning remains veiled. The roaming foreigner in his/ her desire for understanding and orientation in an unfamiliar land- and cityscape scans the scenery for intelligible signs. And thus these words beget a strange new meaning – like call cards for a yet undiscovered story unfolding in the space of language between.

VARIATIONS

HD Video for Installation, 12:30 min (loop), 2011

Photo Series, C-Prints, dimensions variable

Artist Book

Website (see below)

Part of the Project:

A single note is repeatedly struck on a piano. Images of cityscapes appear. Somewhere in Asia. There is something to read in each image. Words address the viewer in Western Letters: Good Coffee Smile, Yes, Destination Tokyo, Little Trip to Heaven, Have a Dream, PflanZen, Zenmall, Far East. Somewhere in Japan. Sounds of the slide projector mingle with sounds of the camera‘s shutter. East Zone. Hit. Dreams come True. Happy Factory. Human. A voice mutters in Japanese „Where am I? I can‘t remember anything.“ Another says: „Until the day he came, I have always been alone.“

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Between the languages, the images and the sound, the subjective and the collective start to mingle, and in the collision between corporate advertising and the personal, a fleeting promise and a faint recollection start to take shape.Tempus fugit, non autem memoria. Rentopia. Happy nice days to you.

“THE PROMISED PLACE/ LEVEL 1 – DO YOU READ ME?” is a slideshow/video hybrid and primarily intended for projection in a dark space.